FabOnDemand Printed Chip Platform Launches: Custom ICs Made in 24 Hours on an A4-Sized Substrate

FabOnDemand Printed Chip Platform Launches

On September 1, semiconductor startup PrintedSilicon unveiled its flagship product FabOnDemand in San Francisco — a desktop-scale chip manufacturing device. The system uses inkjet printing technology to deposit conductive nanoparticle inks directly onto flexible polymer substrates, completing a custom integrated circuit in 24 hours.

FabOnDemand works on an entirely different principle from traditional lithography. The system decomposes chip design files into multi-layer conductive patterns, then uses piezoelectric print heads with 500-nanometer precision to layer silver nanoparticle ink and carbon nanotube semiconductor ink onto the substrate. After each layer is printed, a UV curing system immediately sinters the ink to form stable conductive pathways.

"We're not trying to replace TSMC and Samsung's advanced processes," said PrintedSilicon CEO Maria Santos. "FabOnDemand targets IoT sensors, wearables, and disposable medical devices — applications that need low cost, rapid iteration, and flexible substrates rather than 3nm transistor density."

The device currently supports manufacturing custom chips with up to 2,000 logic gates, sufficient for temperature sensors, RFID tags, and simple signal processors. Per-unit manufacturing cost is approximately $15, compared to $50,000 to $200,000 in mold costs for equivalent chips via traditional lithography.

PrintedSilicon has received over 3,000 pre-orders for FabOnDemand, with customers including medical device companies, agricultural IoT solution providers, and university labs. First shipments are scheduled for December 2028.

TSMC and Intel have not commented, but semiconductor industry analysts believe printed chips won't threaten the advanced process market but could open an entirely new low-cost segment in the mature process space.